We have shared hundreds of thousands of documents with the Texas Attorney General, and we are happy to answer any questions that regulators have about our business.

Meanwhile, an ongoing antitrust probe of Google in Europe is expected to reach its climax in the next few weeks.

European competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia told the company that it had until early July to offer up remedy proposals to avoid "lengthy proceedings" on "abuse of dominance" claims laid out in May this year.

And just yesterday, during a speech in London, the commissioner said:

It is well known that we have an ongoing investigation against Google where we have raised concerns that the company is using its dominance in online search to foreclose rival specialised search engines and search advertisers.

Speed is of the essence in the resolution of cases in fast moving markets. Normal antitrust procedures may take years. In fast-changing industries, there are cases in which commitment solutions are worth exploring provided, of course, that the companies concerned are ready to seriously address and solve the problems at stake.

We are currently negotiating a settlement solution in our investigation of the e-books market and have offered Google the opportunity to take that route.

In other words, Google needs to address all of the EC's concerns.

But, as recently as a few weeks ago, Google chairman Eric Schmidt insisted to The Register that his firm had done nothing wrong.

He did add that Google was "happy to be educated on the contrary," and apologised for offering up a "disappointing" response when he brushed aside questions about whether Mountain View would submit some or all of the remedies sought by Almunia. ®